Refrigeration and air conditioning systems employing a vaporizable fluorocarbon liquid as the refrigerant have become the standard for most of the civilized world. Periodically, such systems need to be cleaned out to remove moisture, dirt, acidic materials, metal dust, etc. from the system's mechanical components and from the refrigerant itself. In earlier times it was routine to blow off the refrigerant to the atmosphere, clean out the components and reassemble the system with new replacement refrigerant. Since the discovery that fluorocarbon vapors are helping to destroy the protective ozone layer in our outer atmosphere there have been major efforts to prevent loss of fluorocarbons to the atmosphere. Refrigeration systems are now cleaned by removing and storing the refrigerant, cleaning the apparatus and the refrigerant separately, and then reassembling the system and cleaned refrigerant for further service.
The prior art, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,592,017 to Lipman; 3,699,781 to Taylor; 4,169,356 to Kingham; 4,267,705 to Leonard et al.; 4,285,206 to Koser; 4,441,330 to Lower et al.; and 4,646,527 to Taylor, describes apparatus and processes whereby the fluorocarbon refrigerant (Freon) is removed from a system and purified by the use of filters, driers, deacidifiers, noncondensible gas removers, and the like, and subsequently returned to the apparatus for continued operation. While such procedures may be satisfactory, they are time consuming and they provide opportunities for accidental refrigerant loss in handling. There has not been available a means for cleaning an installed system and its refrigerant while they are still in an operating relationship.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new improved process and system for cleaning and rejuvenating an operating refrigeration system. It is another object of this invention to provide an improved process and system involving flushing out the installed system with both liquid and vaporous refrigerant. Still other objects will appear from the more detailed description which follows.